John Shuttleworth: Editor/publisher of The Mother Earth News

The first Plowboy Interview with John Shuttleworth, editor-publisher of The Mother Earth News.

March/April 1970
By the Mother Earth News editors 
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The first issue of The Mother Earth News as you'll recall, had no "explanation. " Just three and a half lines on the masthead that said, in essence, "Here it is. " That was done on purpose: MOTHER figured you could decide - without the flowers and the flags - whether or not you wanted her.

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As it turned out, that bugged some people who wanted not only MOTHER . . . but some background information too. Here then, is the first (and, possible, the last) MOTHER EARTH NEWS Plowboy Interview.. John Shuttleworth, editor-publisher of TMEN is on the other end.

Plowboy: Just what is TMEN all about, anyway?

JS: The magazine is dedicated to only two things: Giving people back their lives and stopping the rape of the planet.

Plowboy: What do you mean by "giving people back their lives"?

JS: Just that. I want everyone to be their own man - everybody to have control and direction of their own lives. Abraham Lincoln said it best. "Just as I would not be a slave, I will not have one." I want to be free, therefore I am interested in helping others be free.

Plowboy: Everyone?

JS: Everyone and everything. Blacks, whites. Red, brown and yellow people. Men, women, children. Animals, birds and fishes. Plants. Every living thing. All life is sacred and of God. We've got to take the broadest possible view.

Plowboy: You sound like you're into some of the Eastern religions.

JS: Maybe so. I'm very ignorant about most man-systems. They always seem too arbitrary and irrelevant. I like my living first hand, not filtered through someone else's maze. The all-encompassing concept and reverent life-style of some of the American Indian tribes has always seemed an especially satisfying religion to me. But I've never really gotten into that, either.

Plowboy: How old are you?

JS: 32. I was born July 21, 1937 in the late evening if anyone wants to throw an astrology reading on me. I'm a Cancer on the edge of being a Leo. It's given me some rough internal battles.

Plowboy: Do you put much faith in astrology?

JS: Not particularly. But I do believe that which proves itself, and - until I was shown the astrological basis for my personal dichotomy - I couldn't understand what was causing all the inner turmoil. The Cancer-Leo idea seems to work, so I use it.

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